History Series / FargoSeasonThree

The series also features Creator/MichaelStuhlbarg, Andy Yu, Olivia Sandoval, and Creator/SheaWigham in supporting roles, among others.

The series also features Creator/MichaelStuhlbarg, Andy Yu, Olivia Sandoval, and Shea Wigham in supporting roles, among others.

The series also features Michael Stuhlbarg, Andy Yu, Olivia Sandoval, and Shea Wigham in supporting roles, among others.

** The most prominent example would be the murder of Ennis Stussy, which was completely accidental (the killer confused him with a namesake, Emmit Stussy). Nonetheless, the police found out that Stussy used to be a talented sci-fi writer Thaddeus Mobley in his young years, and believe that the murder could be related to his past.

''Series/{{Fargo}}'' (Season Three) aired on April 19, 2017. It focuses primarily on the feud between the successful Emmit Stussy (Creator/EwanMcGregor) and his brother Ray (also [=McGregor=]), a balding parole officer. When Ray's fiancee-to-be, Nikki Swango (Creator/MaryElizabethWinstead), convinces him to try and steal his brother's priceless stamp, the messy results attract Eden Valley police chief Gloria Burgle (Carrie Coon) to the Stussy brothers. Ray's continued pursuance of his brother's assets, however, proves distracting to Emmit, who finds himself caught amidst a crooked business deal with the mysterious crimelord V.M. Varga (Creator/DavidThewlis).

* BigFancyHouse: Emmit owns one.

** [[spoiler:Maurice]]'s death is passed off as an accident, which is possible because [[spoiler:he was killed by dropping an air conditioning unit on his head]].

** If you use a massive Hummer to smash not one, but ''two'' cars in a restaurant parking lot ''in broad daylight'', the police are not only going to come looking for you, they're going to find you rather quickly.

** Another example is in the episode 2, when Nikki burgles into Emmit's house to get the stamp and finds the donkey picture in place of it. Emmit replaced the stamp with this picture completely by accident, but Nikki figures out that he did so deliberately as a way to mock her and Ray. She also finds a bank deposit number, and, believing that the stamp is here, she and Ray concoct an elaborate plan to break into it... What they eventually find in the deposit box is the ashes of Emmit's beloved deceased dog.

** This leads up to episode 3, in which Gloria goes to Los Angeles to investigate Thaddeus' past life in the 1970s, and finds out some dark secrets, but eventually understands that it's completely unrelated to the murder: "No. It’s just a story. None of this has anything to do with [the murder]". Basically, the whole episode has a RedHerring theme through it, with a number of bizarre occurences that eventually amount to nothing, like a man dressed up as a Santa Claus' elf who steals Gloria's luggage and a strange box with a button that she finds in her hotel room whose only function is to turn itself off when you press the button to turn it on. Finally, there is story of Thaddeus Mobley's novel ''The Planet Wyh'', which runs as a parallel plotline, and tells about an alien robot who stayed on Earth for millions of years, witnessing the rise and fall of civilizations... but when he was finally recovered by his alien creators, they simply told him to turn off.

* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: To talk to her son from LA, Gloria had to call her partner, Donny, who then proceed to pull aside the school bus Nathan was on to lend him the phone.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Many characters in universe (as well as the audience) ponder whether Nikki is in love with Ray or just using him to suit her own ends. As the series goes on it's gradually revealed that there is a love for him and [[spoiler:after he's died Nikki's grief is real]].

* BookEnds: The first and last scenes of the season are between a member of law enforcement and their prisoner. The first scene has the prisoner be innocent of the crimes he's accused of only for the system to not care and find him guilty regardless. [[spoiler:The last scene has Varga arrested by Gloria, only now it's inverted, with the prisoner guilty of the crimes he's accused of but who believes the system won't care and will find him innocent regardless.]]

** What are the odds that [[spoiler:the stamp's frame would require repairs just before Nikki broke in to steal it?]]
** This is discussed by Varga who uses the example of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand to point out how coincidences can have momentous effects.[[note]]Ferdinand survived an assassination attempt earlier in the day but then his driver got lost and stopped the car to get his bearings. Coincidentally, Gavrilos Princeps was just a few meters away and seized the opportunity to open fire.[[/note]]

* DownerEnding: Either this or a BittersweetEnding depending on your interpretation of the final scene, but it's pretty bleak regardless. [[spoiler: Ray, Nikki, and Emmit are all dead, victims of their mistakes and character flaws. Sy is alive [[TheChewToy somehow]], but has evidently sustained some sort of brain damage due to his poisoning. Gloria has become an agent of the DHS and implies that her home life is happy, but might never get the closure she wants so badly on the case. And of course, while his sadistic henchmen have all been dealt with, the ending leaves it ambiguous as to whether Varga himself will get arrested for his crimes or walk free]].

** Blumkin's search for "VM Varga" yields a single result, which is a website carrying Varga's computer virus, which bricks your computer after taking a picture of you and sending it to his henchmen. Apparently a search for "VM Varga" is so rare that he'll kill anyone who makes one.
** Varga himself makes a search for "Gloria Burgle" and receives 0 hits. Apparently Gloria is such a WalkingTechBane that it extends to everyone with the same name.
* InventedIndividual: [[spoiler:Or rather company. It takes Nikki ''one conversation'' to figure out that Narwhal is a complete fabrication and Varga is his own boss.]]

** [[spoiler: The final scene cuts away before we find out whether Varga will become an example by using his connections to escape prosecution yet again.]]
** [[spoiler:The Widow Goldfarb is last seen taking over Stussy Lots and is not implied to have been caught by the DHS in the end]].
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: Despite this trope being a major theme throughout the series as a whole, this season manages to dish out some particularly cruel examples. [[spoiler:The morally grey Nikki Swango and Emmit Stussy evade proper justice for most of the story, but both end up with a bullet in the head by its conclusion. What's makes this so harsh is that Emmit's justice comes after a five year TimeSkip where he's rebuilt his life after Varga wrecked it up so horribly]].

* MagicRealism: This season goes more heavily toward the supernatural than previous seasons with the presence of Paul Murrane, implied to be the [[FlyingDutchman Wandering Jew]]. [[spoiler:He appears beside Gloria during her trip to L.A. to give a strange anecdote about a woman who is both divorced and not divorced. When he meets Nikki and Yuri at a bowling alley, he appears beside each of them and displays mysterious knowledge about their past while speaking about judgment and the afterlife]].

** [[spoiler:Maurice]]'s death is passed off as an accident, which is possible because [[spoiler:he was killed by dropping an air conditioning unit on his head.]]
** The death of [[spoiler:Emmit's lawyer, Irv]] is reported as a suicide, even though [[spoiler:he was thrown by Varga's goons.]]
* NoEnding: [[spoiler: The final scene takes place between Gloria and the arrested Varga in an interrogation room. Gloria bets that he will be arrested in five minutes, while Varga retorts that he will be allowed to walk free in five minutes due to his connections. The scene ends before we find out who's right.]]

** Before the County takeover, the entirety of the Eden Valley police force was made up of only two officers for the entire 1,000 town... and that includes the chief[[note]]In 2011, the average in the US for cities with fewer than 10,000 residents was 3.5 officers per 1,000 inhabitants.[[/note]].
** For most of the season it seems that the entirety of Varga's organization is made up of just Yuri and Meemo. [[spoiler: When things start getting more complicated Varga brings in ''a lot'' more minions.]]

** Emmit and partner Sy's reaction when Varga makes it clear they can't pay back the "loan" but rather are going to be used to launder money for his criminal organization.
** Also when Varga takes over an office of Emmit's to start bringing in several dozen file folders to be used in their money laundering. Once again, they insist they can pay back the money and can't hide it with their small lots. Varga simply tells them to buy more lots.
-->'''Varga''': There you go. Now you're seeing it. The inescapable reality. You're trapped. ''[Emmit and Sy's faces fall]'' Don't look so sad. By the time we're done, you'll be billionaires. On paper, at least. ''[heads for the door]'' Good. Well, that's that out of the way. Now, you may not see much of me for a couple of days, brutal nation states and all, but Yuri and Meemo will be here to make sure everything runs smoothly. And, oh, yes, [[spoiler: condolences on your attorney. What makes it so tragic is how avoidable it was. But you understand, I can't have people out there investigating things]].

** Emmitt is rocked when [[spoiler: his confession to killing Ray is beaten as Gloria tells him that (thanks to Varga) another man has confessed to the killing as well as others. Which means Emmitt is free to go where Varga is waiting to pick him up.]]

** After Emmit [[spoiler: accidentally kills Ray]], Varga instructs him on how to behave when the police inevitably inform him of the news to draw suspicion off of him. When the police do come a few hours later to inform Emmit, he immediately panics and flubs his alibi, making himself look incredibly suspicious. Sy quickly has to intervene in order to stop him from implicating himself further.

* SiblingRivalry: One of the central themes of the season. Ironically Ray and Emmit genuinely seem intent on settling their rivalry by episode two, only for Sy and Nikki escalate it.
* ThouShaltNotKill: Initially implied with [[spoiler:Nikki and Mr. Wrench after their encounter with Paul Marrane]], as both had been known to believe that MurderIsTheBestSolution, but are afterwards shown to [[spoiler:execute their plans against Varga and his henchmen with zero casualties, even with Meemo and Varga himself at their mercy.]] In the season finale this was shown to be a RedHerring, as they [[spoiler:slaughter all of Varga's muscle and Nikki personally goes after Emmit.]]

* UnPerson: This concept is examined as it applies to the Information Age where so much of our identity is connected with our online presence:

* WalkingTechBane: Technology seems to malfunction whenever Gloria is around and she seems to want no part of the Information Age.

-->'''V.M. Varga:''' [[NonAnswer America]].

''Series/{{Fargo}}'' (Season Three) aired on April 19, 2017. It focuses primarily on the feud between the successful Emmit Stussy (Creator/EwanMcGregor) and his brother Ray (also [=McGregor=]), a balding parole officer. When Ray's fiancee-to-be, Nikki Swango (Creator/MaryElizabethWinstead), convinces him to try and steal his brother's priceless stamp, the messy results attract Chief Gloria Burgle (Carrie Coon) to the Stussy brothers. Ray's continued pursuance of his brother's assets, however, proves distracting to Emmit, who finds himself caught amidst a sketchy business deal with the mysterious V.M. Varga (Creator/DavidThewlis).

** This is discussed by Varga who uses the example of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand to point out how coincidences can have momentous effects. Ferdinand survived an assassination attempt earlier in the day but then his driver got lost and stopped the car to get his bearings. Coincidentally, Gavrilos Princeps was just a few meters away and seized the opportunity to open fire. Ferdinand died and World War 1 began.
* DealWithTheDevil: As Varga lampshades, Emmitt really should have asked more questions before he took the money.

-->'''Varga''': There we go. Now you see it. You're trapped. Oh and [[spoiler: condolences on your lawyer.]]
** Nikki meets with Varga in a public place, positive he can't do anything as "you're a pretty distinctive guy." Varga just smirks. "Am I? Look around." Nikki does...and sees that just in this lobby, there are at least six people who are dressed almost exactly the way Varga is. And this is after she notes that Varga loves to put on the "middle management" act in order for people to underestimate him. She can only sigh "nice."
** It's then Varga's turn when Nikki reveals her partner has just taken down the sniper Varga had trained on her.

''Series/{{Fargo}}'' (Season Three) aired on April 19, 2017. It focuses primarily on the feud between the successful Emmit Stussy (Creator/EwanMcGregor) and his brother Ray (also [=McGregor=]), a balding parole officer. When Ray's fiancee-to-be, Nikki Swango (Creator/MaryElizabethWinstead), convinces him to try and steal his brother's priceless stamp, the messy results attract Chief Gloria Burgle (Carrie Coon) to the Stussy brothers. Ray's continued pursuance of his brother's assets, however, proves distracting to Emmit, who finds himself caught amidst a sketchy business deal with the mysterious V.M. Varga (Creator/DavidThewlis) and his Ukrainian associate, Yuri Gurka (Goran Bogdan).

** The death of [[spoiler:Emmit's lawyer, Irv]] is reported as a suicide, even though [[spoiler:he didn't jump of off that parking structure, but was rather thrown off by Varga's goons.]]

* UnPerson:
** This concept is examined as it applies to the Information Age where so much of our identity is connected with our online presence .

** What are the odds that Nikki [[spoiler:winds up handcuffed to Mr. Wrench, several years after he vanished into the ether.]]

* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Both Emmit and Sy are confused by Varga's very strange speaking manner (a mixture of Southern gentleman and David Thewlis's native accent) leading to them to ask this:

** Emmitt is rocked when [[spoiler: his confession to killing Ray is beaten as Gloria tells him that (thanks to Varga) another man has confessed to the killing as well as others. Which means Ray is free to go where Varga is waiting to pick him up.]]

** Blumkin's search for "VM Varga" yields a single result, which is a website carrying Varga's computer virus. Apparently a search for "VM Varga" is so rare that he'll kill anyone who makes one.

** A parole officer is strictly prohibited from having sex with a parolee because of the great potential for abuse. When Ray's bosses find out about his relationship with Nikki they are extremely unhappy and fire him when he tells them that he intends to keep seeing her. In addition this could be considered a violation of Nikki's parole and she could be sent back to prison.

* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Both Emmit and Sy are confused by Varga's very strange speaking manner, leading to them to ask this:

** Monumentally stupid as Maurice may be, what are the odds that after driving 75 miles the wrong way to Eden Valley instead of Eden Prairie he would still run into someone named E. Stussy?

** This is discussed by Varga who uses the example of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand to point out how coincidences can have momentous effects. Ferdinand survived an assassination attempt earlier in the day but then his driver got lost and stopped the car to get his bearings. Coincidentally, one of the assassins was just a few meters away and seized the opportunity to open fire. Ferdinand died and World War 1 began.

--> '''V.M. Varga''', "Somebody to Love"

* IndyPloy: [[spoiler:Nikki Swango]] reveals a great aptitude for these when [[spoiler:she comes up with a way to kill Maurice and convincingly make it look like an accident]] ''in less than a minute'' and then executes it flawlessly in less than ''two''.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Nikki places highly in a bridge tournament with Ray and soon thereafter establishes her cunning during their encounter with Maurice. In later episodes, she shows additional canniness and credits her skill in bridge for her strategic mind.

* AnnoyingArrows: [[spoiler:Nikki and Mr. Wrench are each shot by at least one bolt from a crossbow, but are still able to fight off their attackers and seem little worse for wear a few scenes later]].

->''This is a true story. The events depicted took place in Minnesota in 2010. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred.''
-->--'''the text that opens each episode'''

* AssholeVictim: Howard Zimmerman the Hollywood producer who [[spoiler:conned Thaddeus Mobley out of all the money he had back in TheSeventies]] richly deserved it when [[spoiler:Thaddeus beat him into a coma with his own cane.]]

* BaitAndSwitch: [[spoiler:After Varga's henchmen viciously beat up Nikki in the previous episode, she and Ray flee to a motel. Ray realizes he left the getaway money in his apartment and leaves Nikki alone, unaware that one of the henchmen, Meemo, followed them to the motel to finish the job. Meemo hides in the bathroom while Nikki gets some ice, leading the audience to believe that her demise is imminent. Instead, it's ''Ray'' who ends up dead, killed accidentally by Emmit, and Meemo is called away to clean up the scene before he has a chance to kill Nikki.]]

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Informed that Varga has brought a semi-truck into a parking lot they own, Emmit's reaction is that it's against city property codes.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The whole season has undergone a desaturation similar to the Coens' movie ''Film/InsideLlewynDavis''.

* EldritchLocation: The bowling alley in "Who Rules the Land of Denial." Not only is it located in the middle of nowhere, but Nikki had a strange encounter there with a man who hinted to be some kind of supernatural being. [[spoiler:After Yuri enters the bowling alley and meets the same man, he is never seen nor heard from again.]]
* EmptyElevator: [[spoiler: After his men have been ambushed, Varga retreats into the elevator and goes back to the first floor. Nikki is already there, ready with a shotgun to finish him off. However, when the doors open, Varga is nowhere to be seen. Nikki enters and finds the maintenance hatch open, suggesting he's disappeared into the elevator shaft.]]
* EntertaininglyWrong: When Nikki [[spoiler:breaks into Emmit's house to steal the stamp and finds a framed picture of a donkey instead]] she concludes that he has anticipated her move and left her a cunning personal insult, while [[spoiler:moving the stamp to a safety deposit]]. In reality, [[spoiler: the stamp's frame got broken and Emmit just sent to to get fixed.]]

* FailedASpotCheck:
** This is invoked by Varga who dresses and behaves in a way that people assume that he is a middle management drone and thus pay him no attention until it is too late. This trips up Nikky who is savvy enough to see what Varga really is but fails to realize how the average person might perceive him. She has an OhCrap moment when she realizes that Varga could kill her in a public place and witnesses would likely fail to notice that Varga was present.
** Varga falls to this trope when he gets too arrogant in his dealings with Nikky and fails to do the criminal arithmetic that would let him realize that she has to have at least one accomplice.

* FanService: Mary Elizabeth Winstead flashes her rear end getting out of a bathtub.
* FemmeFatale: The first season to feature full-blown examples, as Nikki Swango fills this role in the present day while Vivian Lord did in the backstory.
* FictionalCounterpart: A newspaper clipping identifies the sci-fi award Thaddeus Mobley [[spoiler:a.k.a. Ennis Stussy]] won as a "Golden Planet" but the shape of the trophy makes it pretty clear it's supposed to be a stand-in for a Hugo Award.
* ForWantOfANail:
** A flashback reveals that Thaddeus Mobley took his alias, [[spoiler:Ennis Stussy]], from a stamp on a toilet reading [[spoiler:"Dennis Stussy and Sons" with the D worn off]]. This saved his life at the time and also doomed him to die 35 years later and halfway across the country when [[spoiler:he is mistaken for another "E. Stussy" and murdered]].
** "The Lord of No Mercy" gives us two: If Ray hadn't forgotten something in his apartment and went back, [[spoiler:he wouldn't have ended up dead at Emmit's hand]]. And the episode ends with Gloria deciding to turn around and head to Ray's apartment, [[spoiler:unaware that Varga and Meemo are there cleaning up the crime scene at that moment]].

* HandcuffedBriefcase: During the exchange with [[spoiler: Nikki and Wrench]], Meemo brings the money in a briefcase handcuffed to his left arm. [[spoiler: After he and the rest of Varga's men are killed, Wrench [[AnArmAndALeg cuts Meemo's hand off]] to get to the money.]]
* HiddenDepths: Both Yuri and Meemo are surprisingly intelligent for goons. Yuri is prone to waxing poetic about Russian history, while Meemo either has some legal knowledge or can fake it convincingly enough to face down an IRS agent.
* HollywoodLaw: Agent Dollard explains that Varga's scheme is not actually illegal if all the people involved properly pay their taxes. However, taking out loans with no intention of repaying them is fraud and most definitely illegal.
* ImprovisedWeapon: [[spoiler:Nikki]] comes up with the idea to use an air conditioning unit to [[spoiler:kill Maurice after he fumbles the robbery.]]

* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler:Ray dies thanks to the stamp that started his stupid feud with Emmit.]]

* LoanShark: Subverted. Emmit thought that he was borrowing money from one and is prepared to pay a hefty interest on the loan. However, the people who gave him the money thought of it as an "investment" and insist that Emmitt pay them back by using his business to launder their money.

* MoonLandingHoax: Varga uses this as an example during his speech on "perception becomes reality." Whether he's saying it really was a hoax or if he's just messing with Sy and Emmit is unclear.
* MuggingTheMonster: Nikki and Ray start messing up Emmit's life and think that the worst that could happen is that Sy will try to get back at them. They are for a very rough surprise when they find that their actions mess with Varga's "investment" in Emmit and Varga does not take such stuff lightly.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: In typical ''Fargo'' fashion [[spoiler:Nikki]] decides that the best solution to the problem of [[spoiler:Maurice fumbling the robbery and blackmailing Ray for it]], is to kill him ''immediately''.

* OlderThanTheyLook: With his perfect hairline and chestnut brown hair, you'd expect Emmit to be younger than the balding, grey-haired and weathered Ray, but Emmit is actually the older brother by 2 years.

* PolarOppositeTwins: Ray is an overweight balding low-level parole officer barely making ends meet. Emmit is a debonair man into the high life and comes off highly educated. What they have in common is getting in ''way'' over their heads on things.

** A parole officer is strictly prohibited from having sex with a parolee because of the great potential for abuse. When Ray's bosses find out about his relationship with Nikky they are extremely unhappy and fire him when he tells them that he intends to keep seeing her. In addition this could be considered a violation of Nikky's parole and she could be sent back to prison.

* RedRightHand: Varga has a grotesque maw of gray, decaying teeth brought on by untold years of bulimic behavior. He's apparently self-conscious about it, as he's frequently seen picking at his gums and sporting breath freshener.

* RidiculouslyAverageGuy: Varga {{invoke|d}}s this trope, dressing in shabby, drab clothes and living an unglamorous lifestyle so as to be BeneathNotice despite his presumably vast wealth. He's still [[InformedAttribute pretty striking in appearance]], however, if only for how grotesque he is. Interesting to note that his working-class London accent would add to his "forgettable everyman" shtick in the UK, but makes him stand out in America.
* RippedFromThePhoneBook: When he arrives at Eden Valley, Maurice looks up E. Stussy in a gas station's phone book and rips out the page with his address in full view of the attendant. Not only does it lead to him killing the wrong person, it also provides evidence that the killing wasn't random.

* SerialKillingsSpecificTarget: [[spoiler:Varga has Meemo kill two men named Stussy in St. Cloud and Eden Valley in ways that mimic the deaths of Ennis and Ray. He does this to make it seem like all four were killed by a serial killer and does so to neutralize Emmit's confession of Ray's death.]] He goes as far as securing a [[TakingTheHeat willing patsy]] who confesses to the whole thing.

* ShaggyDogStory: Gloria spends an episode learning about her former stepfather's dark secret in California, but realizes that it has no bearing on her current investigation.

* SoundtrackDissonance: Ray and Sy have a bitter confrontation, indulge in a little FlippingTheBird and Ray's car is totaled to "The Christmas Song."
* StupidCrooks: Maurice might just be the stupidest criminal in the series, which is saying a lot given the competition.

* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: Mr. Wrench flings his wood axe into the shadows and manages to clip Yuri, taking him out of the fight.
* TimeSkip: Two of them take place near the end of the season.
** "Who Rules the Land of Denial" skips ahead a few months, from December 2010 to March 2011.
** "Something to Love" skips ahead 5 years to show the fates of the remaining characters.

* TwinSwitch: Ray manages to imitate Emmit to get into his bank vault, taking $10,000.
* UglyGuyHotWife: Although they're not married yet, Ray and Nikki. Not only is he probably old enough to be her father, he looks like an overweight gnome, while she is a gorgeous bombshell. This only adds to viewers' and other characters' suspicions that Nikki might be using Ray.
* UnexpectedCharacter: When [[spoiler:Mr. Wrench]] turned up in episode 7, it took the entire audience completely by surprise.

* TheUnsolvedMystery: The season ends with one. [[spoiler:As a Homeland Security agent, Gloria has managed to capture Varga. He believes that his connections will allow him to go free, while she believes he will finally pay for his crimes.]] The episode ends before the audience can find out which of them was right.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Emmit reads a newspaper article about [[spoiler: Ennis Stussy's]] murder, and doesn't even comment on the similarities in name and location.

* WickedCultured: The villainous V.M. Varga is well-traveled, multilingual, and possesses a great deal of knowledge on subjects like history, religion, and philosophy.

* XanatosSpeedChess: Nikki's greatest asset isn't her ability to come up with new plans or adapt the old ones when they fail or get derailed.